Scientists create GM cows ‘more
resistant to TB’

Scientists claim they have created
genetically engineered cows more resistant to bovine TB. A
team of researchers from China inserted a protective mouse
gene, called SP110, into the genome of Holstein-Friesian
cattle to create animals more resistant to TB. To estimate
their ability to resist the disease, researchers inserted
the Mycobacterium bovis bacterium, which causes TB, into the
immune system of the cows.

Three randomly selected transgenic cattle
and three experimental control cattle, derived from the same
cells but without the mouse gene, were infected with M
bovis. The animals were killed 16 weeks later and analysis
of organs, such as lungs, spleen and liver, showed the
protective mouse gene “significantly reduced” the disease.

'Warrior’ fungus could wipe out a
quarter of British wheat crop

An aggressive fungus could wipe out a
quarter of British wheat crops this harvest season,
scientists have warned. The virulent ‘Warrior’ strain of
yellow rust has been found in many crops in the UK and
experts warn it could present a serious threat to wheat
production.

The National Farmers Union warned that
around a quarter of British crops could be affected and said
that European pesticide bans were making it more difficult
to control.

Yellow Rust can cause significant
reductions in quality and yield, and in some cases, lead to
the loss of the entire harvest.

A new report published by the NFU
today has revealed disturbing new figures relating to the
UK’s self-sufficiency in food.

It states that at current rates, just 53 per cent of the
nation’s food needs will be produced from home farms in the
next 25 years, with potential for serious implications for
the British economy, food security and employment.

With the population expected to boom over the coming
decades, there will be around 13 million extra mouths in the
UK by the time the country’s self-sufficiency in home-grown
food is predicted to hit dwindling new lows. Currently, the
figure stands at 60 per cent – following a 30-year downward
spiral. The NFU says action is needed now, and from
successive governments, to reverse this current negative
trend.

The model of agricultural production that
predominates today is not suitable for the new food security
challenges of the 21st century, FAO Director-General José
Graziano da Silva said. While the numbers of the chronically
hungry have been reduced by 100 million over the past
decade, 805 million still go without enough to eat on a
regular basis, he noted in remarks to ministers, scientists,
farmers, and representatives of civil society gathered in
the French capital for a government-organized International
Forum on Agriculture and Climate Change.

Increasing production has long seen as the natural pathway
to ending hunger - but today, even though the world produces
enough food to feed everyone, hunger remains a problem, he
pointed out.

"Since food production is not a sufficient condition for
food security, it means that the way we are producing is no
longer acceptable," said Graziano da Silva. "What we are
still mostly seeing is a model of production that cannot
prevent the degradation of soils and the loss of
biodiversity - both of which are essential goods, especially
for future generations. This model must be reviewed. We need
a paradigm shift. Food systems need to be more sustainable,
inclusive and resilient," he added.

Food output in the UK 'is not being
harmed' by the spread ofsolarpanels
across the countryside, according to new documents from the
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

"Given the small areas of land covered bysolarfarms,
currently, it is not possible to argue that, at the national
level, there is yet a serious impact on agricultural
output," the CAP Direct Payments team told Defra in
September last year. But Environment Secretary Liz Truss
told farmers one month after that British agricultural
output was being affected by 'ugly'solarpanels.

Truss said: "English farmland is some of the best in the
world and I want to see it dedicated to growing quality food
and crops. I do not want to see its productive potential
wasted and its appearance blighted bysolarfarms.”

Agchem firms to apply for neonics ban
exemption

Agrochemical companies are expected
to apply for emergency permission so farmers can use banned
neonicotinoid treatments this year. NFU policy director
Andrew Clark said the union was encouraging agchem firms to
apply for emergency authorisation so growers could use
neonicotinoid seed treatments when planting oilseed rape
from this summer onwards.

“It is absolutely clear that
neonicotinoids are going to be critical this summer and into
the autumn,” Dr Clark toldFarmers
Weekly.
Growers had seen rape crops devastated by cabbage stem flea
beetle in 2014 and it was important that the situation did
not repeat itself.

Neonicotinoid seed treatments have been
banned by Brussels for two years over fears that the
chemicals damage bee populations, which are vital for
pollination. But the NFU continues to argue that the
findings are based on unsound science.

Scientists create barley variety more
resistant to flooding

Scientists in the UK have bred a barley
variety which is better able to tolerate flooding and
waterlogged conditions.

Researchers at the University of
Nottingham have identified the mechanism used by plants in
stress conditions to sense new oxygen levels. This
breakthrough has helped them use advanced breeding
techniques to breed barley cultivars that reduce yield loss
in waterlogged fields.

Scientists have found a genetic
mechanism that could stop the spread of a "devastating"
disease threatening wheat crops.

Septoria leaf blotch (STB) is caused by
a fungus and is seen as the most significant threat to wheat
yields in Europe, and most other wheat growing regions, as
STB infection can claim up to a third of wheat yields and
currently available fungicides are becoming less effective
against resistant strains of the disease.

Researchers at Durham University,
working with partners from Newcastle University and
Rothamsted Research, have now found a way that could
potentially be used to stop extensive spreading of STB
disease.

UK industry bodies call for balanced
EU approach to pesticides

UK farming and agri-chemical
organisations have urged EU policymakers to look at the
bigger picture in determining the future availability of key
pesticides in Europe.The NFU, Crop Protection
Association (CPA) and Agricultural Industries Confederation
(AIC) presented their Healthy Harvest campaign to
representatives from the European Commission and European
Parliament in Brussels on Wednesday.

Richard King, head of research at the
Anderson’s centre, outlined the findings ofhis
report, commissioned by the three organisations, which
showed EU policies threaten 87 out of about 250 approved
pesticides in the UK.

Of these, about 40 are considered to have
a high likelihood of disappearing or being restricted within
the next five to seven years, with potentially serious
consequences for crop yields, including a 12 per cent drop
in winter wheat yields and massive impacts on ‘minor crops’
like carrots and onions.

Oat growers to benefit from huge
research funding boost

The oat breeding team at Aberystwyth
University has secured £2.76m of public funding for research
aimed at improving the crop’s genetics. The project will use
the latest genetic tools and resources to improve traits to
benefit both farmers and consumers, including grain yield,
quality and composition.

The UK grows about 750,000t of oats
annually, with about two-thirds destined for human
consumption. Demand for food-grade oats has been increasing
in recent years, driven by the grain’s health benefits and
product innovation by millers and cereal manufacturers to
make meals such as porridge more convenient to eat. Despite
the growing market, it is often put in the shade by heavy
investment made in other crops, so news of the funding will
be a major boost for the oat industry.

The technology behind GM crops is safe,
according to scientific consensus, says the outgoing science
adviser to the European Commission.

In her first full broadcast interview
since leaving Brussels, Prof Anne Glover defended her stance
on GMOs. And she denied reports that she was "sacked",
saying she intended to leave.

She told the BBC programme Hardtalk that
criticism from environmental groups over her role was
unjustified. Prof Anne Glover, a former chief scientific
adviser to the Scottish government, was accused by NGOs in
July of presenting "one-sided, partial opinions" in the
debate over GM crops. She had argued opposition to GMOs was
"a form of madness".

The Welsh Government has accepted all
15 recommendations contained in a review of agricultural
education provision in Wales put forward by former Harper
Adams University principal, Professor Wynne Jones.

They include the possibilities setting
up an apprenticeship scheme, encouraging greater
co-operation between existing further education agricultural
colleges, development of management and entrepreneurial
skills of those already engaged within the industry and an
increased involvement of the Farming Connect business
development agency.

For schools there is the suggestion of
establishing a GCSE in agricultural sciences within the
annual curriculum and the setting up of an agricultural
ambassador programme to showcase people who have developed a
successful career within the industry.

Fish oils from GM crop fed to Atlantic salmon

British scientists have genetically
engineered camelina plants to produce high levels of omega-3
oils in their seeds which were successfully fed to Atlantic
salmon. The breakthrough could eventually provide a more
sustainable source of omega-3-producing crops to substitute
fish oil in fish feeds.

In a joint research project between the University of
Stirling and Rothamsted Research, scientists developed GM
plants that can produce up to 20% of the omega-3 oil
eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA). The extracted oils from the
plants grown in the glasshouse were used as a replacement
for marine fish oil in feeds for Atlantic salmon.

The results of the study demonstrated
that growth performance, feed efficiency, fish health and
nutritional quality for the human consumer were unaffected
when dietary fish oil was substituted with oil from the GM
plants.

Europe lagging behind all other
continents on GMs, report shows

Plantings
of genetically modified crops declined slightly across
Europe last year amid concerns over their impact on the
environment and human health.Limited choice for farmers in the EU
caused by a lack of product authorisations and national bans
meant fewer European farmers grew GM crops in 2014.

According to figures released by the
International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech
Applications (ISAAA), GM crop plantings grew globally for
the 19th consecutive year.

Last year, 18 million farmers planted
181.5ha of GM crops in 28 countries, up from 175.2m ha in 27
countries in 2013. However, in Europe farmers in five EU
countries – Spain, Portugal, Czech Republic, Slovakia and
Romania – planted 143,016ha of insect resistant biotech
maize, down marginally by 3% on 2013. This figure represents
less than 1% of global GM crop production.

UN's pro biofuels stance an
'important milestone' for agriculture

Sustainable biofuel production can offer
additional incomes for farmers as well as helping to achieve
energy security, the United Nations Food and Agriculture
Organisation (FAO) chief has said.

Speaking at the Global Forum for Food and
Agriculture, the organisation’s director general José
Graziano da Silva recognised the need for biofuels to
address oil reliance and climate change and argued debate
needed to focus on how biofuels can positively contribute to
food production.

He said: “We need to move from the food
versus fuel debate to a food and fuel debate…biofuels should
not be simply seen as a threat or as a magical solution.”

Seven scientific teams from the John
Innes Centre (JIC), The Sainsbury Laboratory (TSL) and The
Genome Analysis Centre (TGAC), have joined forces in the
fight against rust fungi which can cut crop yields by up to
80 percent.

The newly formedNorwich Rust Group (NRG)aims to develop improved resistance
in crops. Exploiting advances in genomics, scientists will
investigate how parasitic rust fungi invade and feed off
plants. They will also use the new knowledge and techniques
to locate genes in some varieties of crops that can resist
invasion.
more

Farming Online, 26 January 2015

UK asparagus production ‘under
threat’ from pesticide laws

Britain’s biggest asparagus grower
believes producing the crop in the UK will become “almost
impossible” if the EU passes laws to ban key crop protection
products.

EU policymakers are seeking to implement
new legislation on endocrine disruptor chemicals (EDCs),
which could result in the loss of key products. A
consultation on the proposals for an EDC definition closed
last week.

Herefordshire grower John Chinn farms
500ha of asparagus at Cobrey Farms, Ross on Wye,
Herefordshire, equivalent to about 25% of the country’s
total asparagus production. Mr Chinn said further reductions
to the list of permitted active ingredients would jeopardise
current British asparagus production and curtail the
expansion so urgently needed to replace imports from Peru.

UK wheat yields have theoretical
potential to more than double over the next 10-20 years if
every aspect of agronomy is fine-tuned and technological
advances are embraced. That was one of the key messages at
Hutchinsons’ winter technical conference in Newmarket last
week (14 January), where speakers urged growers to focus on
the many ways to build, not just protect, wheat yields in
order to break through the current “yield plateau”.

Average UK yields increased rapidly during the 80’s and
90’s, yet the past decade had seen hardly any tangible gain,
with yields remaining close to 8t/ha. While that compared
well to other countries globally it was far below the
19-21t/ha genetic potential of the crop, speakers said.

“We don’t believe a 20t/ha target is that extravagant,” said
Malcolm Hawkesford of Rothamsted Research, which has
launched its 20:20 Wheat initiative that aims to help
growers meet this target within the next 20 years.

EU pesticide crackdown ‘must be based
on sound science’

Pesticides must only be identified as
endocrine disruptors following a sound scientific and full
risk assessment, says the NFU.

The European Commission’s consultation to
help define the criteria for endocrine-disrupting chemicals
(EDCs) closed for responses on 19 January. The consultation
aims to help the commission define chemicals that might
interfere with hormone systems, which may harm human health
and the environment.

An independent report by farm consultant
Andersons has warned up to 40 active substances are at risk
of being lost. This could result in a yield penalty of up to
50% depending on the crop, and farming income could take a
£1.73bn hit, equivalent to a 36% fall in overall profits.

Doubts raised over neonic ban as bee
scientists clash

Concerns are mounting over the scientific
backing behind a ban on neonicotinoid seed treatments as two
researchers at the same university row over possibly flawed
experiments.

The two scientists at the
University of Sussex disagree on whether neonicotinoids were
to blame for a decline in bee populations, which was the
main factor behind the ban on the pesticide.Bee
researcher Norman Carreck is accusing his colleague Dave
Goulson of feeding bumblebees unrealistic high levels of the
neonicotinoid imidacloprid in the laboratory to show an
adverse effect on bees.

“This shows that there are significant
questions over the science. Full field trials have not shown
the levels of harm compared with artificial doses,” says
Chris Hartfield, bee and pollinator expert at the NFU.

Increasing competition for natural
resource and emerging resource bottlenecks mean that global
agriculture can no longer operate using a "business as
usual" approach – the input-intensive agricultural
development model used for the past 40 years is no longer
sustainable, and a "paradigm shift" in food production is
needed.

This was the key message of a speech delivered by FAO
Director-General José Graziano da Silva at the Global Forum
for Food and Agriculture taking place this week in Berlin.
The topic of the forum is The Growing Demand for Food,
Raw Materials and Energy: Opportunities for Agriculture,
Challenges for Food Security?

"Business as usual would mean a huge and simultaneous
increase in the need for food, energy and water in the next
decades: 60 percent more food, 50 percent more energy and 40
percent more water by 2050," Graziano da Silva said during
his remarks. FAO estimates
point to the need to increase food production by 60 percent
by 2050 to feed a population that will top the 9 billion
mark.

Restrictions on
plant protection products would have detrimental effect on
land management, says CLA

The CLA has said vital products needed for
land management may be lost as a result of the EU’s attempt
to redefine how hazardous they are.

Responding to a European Commission consultation to help
determine criteria for endocrine disruption - chemicals
contained within products which could alter the hormonal
system - the CLA said it was necessary to identify the
potential risk of pesticides and biocides by taking into
account potency and exposure as well as hazard.

CLA President Henry Robinson said: “Seventeen active
substances in herbicides, fungicides and insecticides could
be lost as a result of the endocrine disruptor
classification. Such a loss would have significant
consequences for agriculture and land management.

MEPs vote to give member states more
powers on GM crops

MEPS have overwhelmingly endorsed a
significant change to EU legislation today, giving member
states a much greater say over whether they grow genetically
modified (GM) crops.

The European Parliament voted in
Strasbourg on Tuesday by 480 votes to 159 to make it easier
for member states to ban GM crops and, potentially, to push
ahead with approvals on a national scale, prompting
speculation about possible approvals in England within the
next few years.

After today’s vote,the
new legislationis
expected to be in place by this spring.

Truss wants UK powers to decide on GM
approvals

DEFRA Secretary Liz Truss has
stressed her desire for the UK to be allowed to make its own
decisions on GM crops, ahead of a key vote in Europe next
week.

The vote could go a long way to moving
control over GM approvals away from the Commission into the
hands of member states. This followsa
vote by MEPs in November.

Mrs Truss said GM crops should ‘have a
role to play’ in the UK and farmers should have the
opportunity to grow GM crops. She said the UK was pushing at
EU level to break down the barriers to growing them. She
called for decisions on issues like pesticides and GM
cultivation to be ‘made on science alone’. “Ultimately we
want to see decisions on GM crops taken in Britain,” she
said.

The UK farm industry is lagging behind
other countries and must work to improve efficiency.

The Oxford Farming Conference’s annual
report, compiled by Andersons, identified key issues within
the UK’s agricultural industry which have seen it fall
behind several other countries’ farm sectors.

According to the report, ‘The Best
British Farmers: What gives them the edge’, the UK is
hampered by a loss of technology but must work harder to
implement tools to improve competitiveness.
more

Farmers Guardian, 7
January 2015

Global warming threat to wheat yields

New research in the UK has predicted global wheat yields
will drop by 6% for each degree of centigrade of global
warming.

The study, published in the journal
Nature Climate Change, also warns global warming will
increase variability of wheat yields across regions and
seasons.

An international group of agronomists,
including scientists from Rothamsted Research, used computer
modeling technologies, field and artificial heating
experiments to focus on responses of wheat to high
temperatures.

'Broadband to boost rural job
migration over next decade’

Faster internet and better transport
links could help the rural economy grow faster than urban
areas over the next decade, say government analysts.

A Defra report on rural productivity
claims rural workers are 83% as productive as those in urban
areas. However, increased connectivity, spread of innovation
and growth in knowledge-based industries, including
agriculture, could allow the countryside to gain ground on
towns over the next decade.

Defra estimates a rise in rural jobs,
thanks to a high-tech boost from speedier broadband and
better transport links, could increase economic output in
rural areas by £35bn by 2025. During this time, the
government predicts an additional 300,000 rural jobs could
be created – a 6% increase in rural employment – with more
people leaving cities in search of a rural idyll.

Bee-friendly pesticide research among
Agri-Tech winners

Research to develop an
environmentally-friendly pesticide, using spider venom, that
is not harmful to bees will be among the beneficiaries of
the latest tranche of Government funding aimed a tackling
the big agricultural challenges of the day.

Businesses and universities across the UK
will benefit from £16 million under the second round of
funding to be distributed through the £70 million Agri-Tech
Catalyst, announced as part of the UK Industrial Strategy
for Agricultural Technologies in July 2013.

Among the most eye-catching beneficiaries
is a £1m project aiming to further develop an
environmentally friendly pesticide which is harmless to
non-target species, including bees. Led by Arch UK Biocides
in collaboration with the University of Durham, the Food and
Research Agency (FERA) and I2LRESEARCH LTD, this project
will receive over £650,000 in Agri-Tech Catalyst funding.

SRUC and
University of Edinburgh ‘most powerful’ in UK agricultural
and veterinary research

Agricultural and veterinary research at
SRUC and the University of Edinburgh has been ranked as most
powerful in the UK in the Research Excellence Framework
(REF).

The REF process is an assessment of the quality of the
research being undertaken at UK Higher Education
Institutions (HEIs) and the impact it has in society.
Building on a long history of collaboration and
complementary activities, SRUC and the University’s Royal
(Dick) School of Veterinary Studies – which includes The
Roslin Institute - made a joint REF submission.

Three quarters of the research and related activity
submitted by SRUC/UoE was judged to be “world leading”
(receiving the top REF grading of four star) or
“internationally excellent” (three star).

NFU issues 'call to arms' on EU
pesticide legislation

The NFU is urging farmers to make their
views known to the European Commission about proposals that
could remove key pesticides from the market.

The Commission is currentlyconsulting
on the definition of ‘Endocrine Disruptors’ a group of
chemicals that could be removed under changes to EU
pesticides legislation.

In arecent
report, commissioned by the UK farming and agro-chemical
industry, farm business consultants Andersons concluded the
potential loss of pesticides from this and other EU
legislation could have a devastating impact on the UK
farming industry.